Environmental abuse by stealth” MEP Peter Agius condemns the Government’s bad-faith deletion of “Sensitive Areas” of Maltese seawaters to bypass EU standards and calls for an audit and independent seawater testing by the European Commission

‘After the deletion by stealth of sensitive areas to bypass EU sewage treatment rules, we cannot trust the Government with proper monitoring of sea water quality. I am therefore calling on the European Commission services to consider an independent audit and sampling of sea water quality in Malta. Our families deserve peace of mind that our seas are safe and that sewage is well treated according to EU standards’ said MEP Peter Agius. 

Peter Agius has condemned the Maltese Government’s recent decision to remove sensitive area designations from coastal waters near sewage treatment plants, calling it a deliberate move to avoid stricter EU environmental obligations.

The editorial deletion, as mandated by a Ministerial bye-law and exposed by the Nationalist Party this week, means that for the next EU Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive reporting cycle, Malta will designate no coastal waters as sensitive to sewage flows in the sea. 

Instead of stopping the sewage flows into the sea. They just deleted the maps.” Agius said, ‘The government is rolling back the Maltese law in an attempt to bypass EU scrutiny. It will not work! A revised EU Directive entered into force in January this year with stricter controls and environmental limits on the release of nutrients into the environment and additional new standards on micropollutants,” explained MEP Peter Agius.

Malta was already in breach of the less strict seawater quality standards and was found in breach in October last year. After this judgement, revised, stricter standards now came into force, putting into question the Government’s capacity to keep up with the new, higher standards.

MEP Agius highlights another issue of trust in water sampling by Maltese authorities. The European Commission has clearly expressed doubts on the testing protocols and reliability of sea water testing by Maltese authorities in the procedures leading to the court case last year. 

Now that we see the government’s attempts to remove sensitive areas from our laws, doubt also arises regarding the reliability of seawater testing and monitoring, as foreseen in the revised EU directives with higher standards. This is why I am formally calling on the Commission to consider an audit including independent testing of seawater quality in Malta as foreseen in the revised Directive,’ concluded Dr Agius.

Pending Petition in front of the European Parliament:

MEP Agius has long been campaigning for better EU standards in Malta and for the sewage pollution in Maltese waters. Earlier this month, he filed a petition before the European Parliament on behalf of residents and Flimkien għal Ambjent Aħjar. 

The petition, which has already gathered over 600 signatures online, urges the European Commission to secure Malta’s immediate compliance with EU wastewater directives.

“Swimmers are finding closed beaches or getting nasty infections with polluted sea water. How long do we have to wait for the Government’s compliance with EU standards?” say the petitioners.

Over the past year, the government has announced an extension of the sewage treatment plant in Taċ-Ċumnija and published a tender for an agricultural sewage treatment plant in Magħtab. Works on these projects are expected to take up to 5 years.

“Are we set for another 5 years of sewage in the sea?” said MEP Peter Agius.

“Our residents are seeing and smelling the problem in real time, yet the government is hiding behind technical thresholds while ignoring the public outcry,” Agius added. 

“Our petition to the European Parliament is about safeguarding the health of our sea and our people.”

Agius pledged to continue pressing the issue in Malta and Brussels until the authorities take action.